Having spoken to people who worked on the movie, that is not the case.

Just to add my two cents. Superman has a certain look so it shouldn't surprise anyone that Reeve, Routh and Cavill all bear a resemblance to one another. They have all been made to look like Superman. In my mind, Reeve did not define what Superman should look like. Reeve simply looked like Superman.

I don't think that G. Reeves looked much like the Superman of the modern era, but he did have the qualities of a 1950's Superman with slicked back hair and a broader, less angular jaw.

While I enjoyed Dean Cain, I think his Clark looked better than his Superman.

To sum up (because I have started to ramble), I think the three big budget franchises and to some extent, Smallville, chose actors who all had the basic features of the Superman character.

Just to add my two cents. Superman has a certain look so it shouldn't surprise anyone that Reeve, Routh and Cavill all bear a resemblance to one another. They have all been made to look like Superman. In my mind, Reeve did not define what Superman should look like. Reeve simply looked like Superman.

I don't think that G. Reeves looked much like the Superman of the modern era, but he did have the qualities of a 1950's Superman with slicked back hair and a broader, less angular jaw.

While I enjoyed Dean Cain, I think his Clark looked better than his Superman.

To sum up (because I have started to ramble), I think the three big budget franchises and to some extent, Smallville, chose actors who all had the basic features of the Superman character.

So it was just a coincidence he just so happened to favor him? What were the determining factors? Surely it wasn't his acting...

oh please lets not start with this.

why was Cavill cast? because he already screentested 2000 times in the last 10 years and because he is british. Nolan boom boom.

lets stop joking. WB was not going to spend a cent more than they had to. this meant using everything from the old failed superman movies. scripts,suits,actors from the last 7 years that were desperate becoming superman. ohhhh and the suit is from the flyby script. end of story. Snyder was working on the suit with concept artist? hahahahhahahahahhah. there was a big law suit with superman. WB was doing all the work on the suit from the office. what could and what could not be used.

i dont think Routh is a good actor. but i would bet my life on it that Cavill was not cast for his acting. he looks like superman,he is cheap,he already screentested 20000 times and he is cheap.

In my mind, Reeve did not define what Superman should look like. Reeve simply looked like Superman.

Reeve looked like Superman, but he also defined Superman. Superman in the comics was always more middle-aged looking. His hairline was almost receding. When Reeve was cast, the biggest complaint was how young he looked. It was his acting that overcame that detail.

When John Byrne rebooted Superman in 1986, he made a conscious decision to draw Superman like Christopher Reeve. Most artists since then followed Byrne's 'redesign'. Even now we have artists like Gary Frank who basically draw a caricature of Reeve.

lets stop joking. WB was not going to spend a cent more than they had to. this meant using everything from the old failed superman movies. scripts,suits,actors from the last 7 years that were desperate becoming superman. ohhhh and the suit is from the flyby script. end of story.

As you probably know, Hollywood is full of very protective unions, guilds and agents. So it’s unlikely that WB could negotiate discounted fees from Goyer or production and costume designers (etc.) based on the notion that a lot of work had been done for prior/failed productions. Everything has to be paid for. Again.

As you probably know, Hollywood is full of very protective unions, guilds and agents. So it’s unlikely that WB could negotiate discounted fees from Goyer or production and costume designers (etc.) based on the notion that a lot of work had been done for prior/failed productions. Everything has to be paid for. Again.

Then why is so much of MOS recycled from previous projects?

Even SR borrowed from previous attempts. The plane scene was taken directly from the J.J Abrams script.

Reeve looked like Superman, but he also defined Superman. Superman in the comics was always more middle-aged looking. His hairline was almost receding. When Reeve was cast, the biggest complaint was how young he looked. It was his acting that overcame that detail.

Almost receding but not quite. IIRC, the receding hair Superman is from the earlier period, at the time when Christopher Reeve was cast, the Superman that I most remember and recongnised as definite (even compared with the 90s' & 00s comic) was Curt Swan:

Almost receding but not quite. IIRC, the receding hair Superman is from the earlier period, at the time when Christopher Reeve was cast, the Superman that I most remember and recongnised as definite (even compared with the 90s' & 00s comic) was Curt Swan:

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

A lot of Henry Cavill's features are there.

When exactly was that page published? This is what I see when I think of Curt Swan's Superman;

When exactly was that page published? This is what I see when I think of Curt Swan's Superman;

I don't recall when. Yep the above drawing is all Swan. Either, the receding hairline wasn't too obvious as in the previous incarnation, or maybe my memory is playing trick on me. I do not have access to my old comic collection as they're all boxed away in the my old home, so I could refresh my recollection at the moment..

WB paid for 10 years concept artist and writters for writting action scenes. so they used them.

Presumably, Snyder and co. had full access to the prior stuff - and (re)used what was good/useful. But new writers/designers still had to be hired at their going rate. Put it this way: at $225M, MOS doesn’t appear to be the beneficiary of any significant cost savings from defunct projects.